Alfred Witte

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Alfred Witte
Alfred Witte

Alfred Witte (Born 2 March 1878, 21:12 LMT, Hamburg – died 4 August 1941, 4:01 MET, Hamburg) was a German surveyor, astrologer, an amateur astronomer, and the founder of the Hamburg School of Astrology. Witte revived and further developed the use of astrological midpoints for precision in astrological analysis and prediction.

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[edit] Writings

In his early writings in the 1920s, he experimented with numerous historical astrology techniques, including the astrological houses, planetary formulae similar to Arabic parts, and for a brief period a new scheme of planetary rulerships. His approach to astrology was to verify assumptions by current reality checks rather than historical validation. He sought to approach astrology as a science, and the controversy over his assertion of the existence of Trans-Neptunian objects other than Pluto led to widespread ridicule and rejection during his later years.

[edit] Trans-Neptunian hypothesis

Witte proposed the existence of several hypothetical Trans-Neptunian objects. While modern technology has verified the existence of thousands of Trans-Neptunian objects, the specific Trans-Neptunian objects that are used by the Hamburg School and Uranian astrology have not yet been validated or disproven as of November 2007. Some members of the Hamburg School have for a number of years asserted that some of Witte's Trans-Neptunians may actually be the barycenters of clusters of Trans-Neptunian objects, and shun both the labels "planet" and "object" for this reason. Witte did however describe the colors of two of his inner Transneptunians, Cupido and Hades, in articles in the anthology Der Mensch - Eine Empfangsstation kosmischer Suggestionen. Witte was prohibited by the Third Reich from recording his observations during the last years of his life.

Witte was considered an enemy of the German Third Reich and his main book, the Rulebook for Planetary Pictures was banned and burned by the Nazis. He committed suicide, in anticipation of internment by the Nazis, in 1941. His work was resurrected by his students, among whom was Ludwig Rudolph, after 1945.

In the mid 20th century, a collection of Witte’s observations and techniques came to be described in the English speaking world as Uranian astrology.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Rudolph, Ludwig, Witte, Alfred: Der Mensch – eine Empfangsstation kosmischer Suggestionen, Witte-Verlag, Hamburg, 1975: An anthology of Witte's writings during early experiments 1913-1924.
  • Fleischhauer, Carl Otto, Alfred Witte – Landmesser und Astrologe – und die Hess-Affäre, self-published, Hamburg, 1997.